How much money are we talking about spending here? Full-price, $150-200K level? Do you want to work an LRAP job or would you just be getting it to get your loans forgiven? If you do want that job, how confident are you that you will still want that job in three years, even while your classmates are (maybe) drawing six figures?

That said, student loans are relatively cheap money. And if you (evidently) have hundreds of thousands of dollars laying around (or something like that?), couldn't you get loans now and if the LRAP doesn't pan out, just pay them back when you graduate? The interest accrued in 3-5 years wouldn't be too terrible, would it?

Take the loans, and save your money. If you have the money now, you should have the money later right?If you get the LRAP then great, you've just made a nice bankroll. If you don't you can just pay off your loans with relatively little interest attached.

I'd probably take out some Stafford loans, and pay the rest. STafford loans really aren't that terrible to pay back, the interest rate is relatively low, etc. I'd pay cash instead of taking out gradplus or private loans though.

This way, with the stafford loans, if you do end up taking advantage of LRAP (which, despite the fact that schools sell it as awesome, tends to be pretty limited), that's great. The gov't is also starting their own LRAP program that you may qualify for. But if you end up doing something where you don't qualify for LRAP or decide not to do public interest/gov't work, the stafford loans aren't too bad to pay off.

Read the LRAP terms carefully. Your plan might not work because many programs treat any assets as income - you have to sell those assets to pay debt before LRAP kicks in. Spousal income is often taken into account as well.

I would do what Jacy said, and pay whatever you can up front and see if you can get by on only Stafford loans.

Yeah, you need to rethink. I know Georgetown and UCLA for example both consider assets. Most schools with LRAPs do. Read the fine print. UCLA allows you to accumulate 10k in assets each year (10k, then 20k, etc). Anything above 10k a year in savings that you've gotten from somewhere or had before is going to be counted, and the LRAP wont cover you. Similar situation at Georgetown, except there's no buildup 10-20-30.. you can have around 20k in assets, I believe.